Fulcrum for car door locking means



Feb. 14, 1950 A. E. ZIMMER ET AL FULCRUM FOR CAR DOOR LOCKING MEANS Filed July 17, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet l Feb. 14, 1950 A. E. ZIMMER ET AL FULCRUM FOR CAR DOOR Locxms MEANS 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 17, 1947 m Y Maw E Z r /n fw M A. E. ZIMMER ET AL FULCRUM FOR CAR DOOR LOCKING MEANS Feb. 14, 1 950 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed July 17, 1947 1950 A. E. ZIMMER ET AL I 2,497,284

FULCRUM FOR'CAR DOOR LOCKING MEANS 4 7 Filed July 17, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 F GS /N VENTORS ALBERT E. Z/MMER WILLIAM E BAT/I0 A TTORA EY Patented Feb. 14, 1950 UN E S A s O F C Q g }2;49"7';2s4,, V

FUL citUMiFoR'oARDooRLooKINo MEANS Albert E.Zim'mer andWilliamlFg'Batho, Chicago, 111., ass'iignor's to Enterprise Railway Equipment Company, Chicago, 111., acorpor'ation of Illinois Application-July 17f, 1947, Serial No. 3161590 This invention relates tofim-provements in railroad car door locking means. More particularly it relates to locking means for the type of car door commonly used on railroad hopper cars.

An object of this invention is toimlprove prior car door operating means of the type'shown in U. 8. Letters Patent 2,030,240 issued on February 11, 1936, to Argy'le' Campbell, assignor to Enterprise Railway Equipment Company. In the disclosure of the prior 'U.'S..Patent 2 0301240 a latching bar is pivotally mounted on the car door and the parts are adapted to permit the operation of the door from a location adjacent one side of the door. l' .A more specific object of this'inve'ntion is to improve the iulcrmn means located on the door which cooperates with a -f'1ilcrum means on the latching bar so as to permit a .prying open of the door. Through the applicants improvement, a removablebar maybe inserted between the fulcrum means withgreatersafety and convenience in opening the latch than is the case in the prior disclosed itulcrum :means. I

Afurtherspecific object of this invention is to provide upon the fulcrum means carried by the door a ledge or fulcrum shaped to insure that the operating bar will be :securely held against slip-.

page but will nevertheless be permitted to leave,

the fulcrum when the door swings .freeupon opening. I It is a still further object of .our invention to provide a fulcrumpocket fora removable prying bar-which will have an end wall to limit endwise movement of the bar and also operate-to dispose the prying bar outwardly 'heyondthe fulcrum pocket to prevent said Well functioning as a rest for the prying bars V Other objectsand featuresof this invention will become readily apparent fromthe following written description and the accompanying drawings,

wherein: V 3

Fig. 1 is a vertical front elevation of .a portion of a door commonly used in a hopper car, the locked position of the locking mechanism being shown in solid lines and the unlocked position being shown in broken lines;

Fig. 2 is a vertical side elevation of the lower portion of a car showing the hopper door and adjacent related car construction .in-elevation; Fig. 3 is [a detailed vertical sectional view, taken on the line 33 of Fig. 4; p I p Fig. 4 is a front elevational view substantially on the 1ine 4-4 of "Fig. 3, showing some of the parts in cross-sectionalview for clarity and show.-

ingthe'position of the'operating' barin the open 5 5 2 Claims. (01105- 308) position of thelocking'bar in solid'lines, the locked positionbeing shown in broken lines.

Fig. 5is an enlarged front elevational view of the fulcrum pocket; i v

Fig. 6 is .a'plan view of theipocket shown in Fig. "5, the door brace being shown in section;

Fig. 7 is a side elevation'al view of the fulcrum pocket shown in Fig. '6 as viewed from left to right; v p g y l Fig. 8 is a vertical longitudinal sectional View taken online B8 o'fFig. "'7; Fig. 9 'is a transverse vertical sectional View taken through the lpocket'on a'line 9-.-9 of Fig. 5; "Fig. 10 a sectional'view similar to Fig. 9 ex: cept that it is taken inid'way 0 f thepocket on a line "HI-"-10 of'Fig. 5; and

' Fig. "11 is'another cross sectional View similar to Figsl '9 andlO except-that it is taken adjacent the end of the pocket on a'line llll of Fig. I

Thelinvention isillustrated as applied to a hopper car of the so-called W type as is the casein the disclosure of the Argyle Campbell Patent 23301240 to which previous reference has been made. As in the earlier Argyle Campbell disclosure, the underlying structure shown includes a side sill A, a side hopper sheet B, a door closing frame "C, ahopper door'D and hopper door locking mechanism g iA's'will beno'ted by reference to the drawings, the door This ipivotallvmounted adjacent its upper marg'in to swingion .a substantially horizon-E tallydisposed axis. ,The door D includes asubstant'ially fiat body portion and is adapted to be swungor kicked to closed position to lie in an inclined position andbe retained in such closed position by the door locking mechanismE Our invention as shown is applied in connection with a latch bar 6 mounted on the outer face. of the floor-"D to swing in aplane substantially .parallel with the body of the door.

"The parts concernedlwith the door mechanism include a'lock'ing dog 5, and latch bar 6 adapted tdbe" operated by a removable bar I and for this purposeiprying lugs 8 and 9 are disposed on the latch bar 6 and door 'D respectively. The latch har 'BLispivotally mounted adjacent the inner side edgeof the door 4D and is extended along the swinging edge thereat towards the outer side of the doorfand is there provided at its outer end withfthe prying lugiil. Intermediate its pivotal axis and prying lug =9 the latch bar 6 engages witha shouldered keeperflll and it is adapted to I Ill. The fulcrum 9 is in the form of a shelf ll outstanding from the door and formed integrally with a door brace l2 which is in the form of a reinforcing beam extending along the outer edge of the door D and constitutes the supporting means for the pivotal axis of the latch bar 6.

That portion of the door brace l2 which actually forms the support for the shelf 9 is a vertically disposed guiding wall lZa, Fig. 5, which overlies the latch bar 6 and the dog 5.

The general structure of the disclosure may best be summarized by stating its mode .of op? eration. Assuming the parts to be positioned as in Fig. l, with the locking dog 5, shown by broken. lines, disengaged with respect to the latch bar 6, the operator inserts the bar 1 between the prying lugs 8 and 9 and, by lifting movement on the end of the bar, causes the bar to rotate around the fulcrum 9. This lifts the latch bar 6 out of engagement with the keeper ll] of the door D,

thus permitting the door to swing'to an open position.

The applicants improvement over the prior art disclosure is centered upon the operating bar fulcrum or prying lug 9. The operating bar fulcrum is formed with a shelf ll (Fig. 3) which slopes upwardly at a slight angle not only from its inner edge adjacent the door lorace I2 but also from the edge facing the lug 8 as shown more clearly in Figs. through 11 and described hereinafter, whereas the fulcrum shown in the prior Campbell Patent 2,030,240, element 60, is merely a lug extending outwardly at right angles to the face of the mechanism. Because of the angular position of the door in its closed and locked position, the operating bar has a. tendency 'to slip off the .prying lug shown in this patent when force is applied to raise the latch bar out of engagement with the keeper in opening the door.

In the present disclosure the operating bar rests upon the inclined shelf II and tends to hug the face of the door brace I2 thereby preventing slippage of the bar .when force is applied to ,pry the latch bar open. As the door swings open in the.

ward edge of the shelf l l which prevents the opcrating bar from slipping forward while under pressure or from being placedso far forward as V to defeat the intended purposes of the fulcrum shelf.

In order to prevent the prying bar I fromrresting on the end wall M, its upper edge is inclined outwardly and downwardly from the front face of the door D, as indicated at I la, Fig. 7, thereby reducing the likelihood that this upper surface 14a of the end wall M will be used as a fulcrum. If the prying bar 1 should rest on the inclined surface Ma and an attempt were made to move the latch bar 6 to the open position, the prying bar I will slide ofi of this surface. Thus, it is necessary to place the end of the pry bar I on the shelf II in the intended manner where its movement on the release of the latch bar 6 is positively determined and controlled by theshape and location of the upper surface thereof.

The location and disposition of the upper surface of the shelf H in relation to the latch bar 6 and associated .parts will be understood more clearly by reference to Figs. 5 to 11 inclusive. As there shown the shelf II has its upper surface inclined upwardly and outwardly away from the front face of the door D to provide in combination with the outer surface [2b of the guiding wall 12a a substantially V-shaped pocket extending lengthwise of the latch bar 6.

walls of this V-shaped pocket varies from a sharp acute angle at the closed endv of the pocket adjacent to the wall M, Fig. 9, to present an ever widening angle toward the open end of the pocket at which location, Fig. '7, the upper surface of the shelf H is disposed in right angular relation to the. surface 12b. The apex of this V-shaped ipocket extends along a substantially horizontally disposed straight line 14b and, owing to the cons'tantly varying degree of inclination in two planes, the upper surface of the shelf H slopes downwardly toward the open end edge 20 of the pocket as indicated by the sloping edge I40, Fig. 5, and. the intermediate sloping line Md, Fig. 8, and the lines l4efg in Figs. '7, 9 and respectively. The downward inclination in the'two planesas indicated by the sloping lines Mc-d-e-f-g thus being in a direction opposite to the upward movement of the latch bar 6 in its releasing motion, results in a wide upward sweep of the pry bar i during its movement to release the latch bar 6 as is illustrated in Fig. 4. With the pry bar I in the position here indicated, the angularity between it and the inclined shelf surface is approximately sixty degrees so that the end of the my bar 7 on the shelf H is in position to slip outwardly along the same and out of engagement therewith. It will now be appreciated that the location and shape of the upper surface of the shelf H operates to release the pry bar 1 inthe direction of movement ofthe latch bar 6 as well as in the direction of swing of the door D to the open position. The pivoted dog 5 is provided for maintaining the latch bar 6 in locked position. The dog 5 has a lug or projection i5 which is used to form a fulcrum for the operating bar I when forcing the dog into its locked position indicated by solid lines. A cooperating lug IB is mounted on the door brace I 2. The locking bar, indicated in broken lines, is placed under the lug l6 and over the lug I5 to obtain the necessary leverage. The lug It may also be used in this same manner to force the latch bar 6 into locked .position, although in ordinary practice this is more often done by striking the lug 8 of the latch bar 6 with the operating bar 7, or with a sledge. For withdrawing the dog 5, the foregoing procedure is reversed.

While the specification discloses and describes a. preferred embodiment of this invention, the same is merely illustrative and the applicants claim all constructions coming within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

The applicants claim:

1. In a door latching device including a door hinged along its upper side and swingable about a horizontal axis to and from a closed position inclined to the vertical and biased therefrom by 55 gravity to a vertical open position, a latch bar for holding the door closed, the latch bar being pivotally mounted on the door to swing parallel to its outer side and toward its hinge axis to released position, a prying lug carried by the 70 door and another prying lug carried by the latch bar, the two prying lugs being adapted to accommodate a prying bar inserted therebetween for unlatching the latch bar, the improvement which comprises a shelf integral with said prying 75 lug carried by the door and adapted to form a The angular relationship between the respective rest for one end of said prying bar, the upper surface of said shelf being inclined upwardly with respect to the outer side of the door and forming therewith an acute angle opening to receive said end of said bar with a wedging action whereby said bar is prevented from laterally slipping ofi said prying lug carried by the door when force is applied thereto by said bar to unlatch the latch bar, and a vertical wall integral with said shelf on the end away from said prying lug carried by said latch bar to prevent the prying bar from longitudinally slipping past said end.

2. In a door latching device including a door hinged along its upper side and swinga-ble about a horizontal axis to and from a closed position inclined to the vertical and biased therefrom by gravity to a vertical open position, a latch bar for holding the door closed, the latch bar being pivotally mounted on the door to swing parallel to its outer side and toward its hinge axis to released position, a prying lug carried by the door and another .prying lug carried by the latch bar, the two prying lugs being adapted to accommodate a lprying bar inserted therebetween for nnlatching the latch bar, the improvement which comprises a shelf integral with said prying lug carried by the door and adapted to form a rest for one end of said prying bar, the upper surface of said shelf being inclined upwardly with respect to the outer side of the door and forming therewith an acute angle opening to receive said end of said bar with a wedging action whereby said bar is prevented from laterally slipping off said prying lug carried by the door when force is applied thereto by said bar to unlatch the latch bar, and a vertical wall integral with said shelf on the end away from said prying lug carried by said latch bar to prevent the .prying bar from longitudinally slipping past said end, the upper edge of said vertical wall being inclined outwardly and downwardly with respect to the outer side of said door whereby said prying bar if applied thereto will slide off of the same and it will not function as a fulcrum therefor.

ALBERT E. ZIMMER). WILLIAM F. BATI-IO.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,755,529 Wine Apr. 22, 1930 2,011,470 Campbell Aug. 13, 1935 2,030,240 Campbell Feb. 11, 1936 

